Would That Make You Happy?

Frisk is your child, the result of a teen pregnancy, but they've always been told that you're their older sister. In an effort to get away from your own abusive mother, the two of you end up falling into the Underground, where Sans is startled by this abrupt change in what had become a predictable pattern of events. Maybe your presence is what is needed to stop the endless cycle of Resets.

After many struggles, both internal and external, you and your found family reach the surface, only to face even more difficulties from the society you weren't sure you'd ever see again. You meet new friends and encounter people from your past, though for good or ill, you're not sure. Sometimes it's difficult to tell kindness from cunning.

13. Undyne

You're not sure which is scarier: when you can move but have no way of defending yourself, or when all you can do is turn in place but have the magical shield. Honestly, no matter what, all you can feel is the thrill of adrenaline and terror thrumming through your veins.

You have no idea why Undyne's magic also allows you to defend yourself from her, but you aren't in a position to question it. All you can do is hold your ground in the face of her onslaught. Frisk stays behind you without question, one hand tangled up in the back of your jacket.

"Papyrus you have to help—! Ah, no, the phone!"

At that moment your Soul reverts to it's normal wine color and you twist to seize hold of Frisk's arm, pulling them out of the way of a flying spear. Your phone tumbles from their hands into the snow, and you almost slip on it. Undyne has you turned around now, with her standing between you and the rest of Snowdin. Even if you wanted to try making a break for the forest where you know Sans and Papyrus are, there's no way you can make it past her now.

Undyne just sneers as she flips a spear in her hand, and you get the feeling that she's toying with you. "Do you really think your lives are worth more than the freedom of every monster? Are you that selfish?!"

You don't answer. Shoving Frisk in front of you, you glance over your shoulder and start running the only direction you can —towards Waterfall.

Undyne lets out a growl of frustration and a magical spear plunges into the ground a few feet away from you, humming with magic for a moment before disappearing. You keep running, trying your best to drag Frisk into a zig-zagging pattern to try and dodge spears you can't even see.

"STOP RUNNING!" Undyne roars, and you can feel a familiar buzz of magic in the air.

The tip of a glowing, translucent spear plunges through your chest and through your Soul. Pain sears through your body as you let out a choked cry, your entire body jerking to a halt. Green washes over your Soul again and the spear vanishes, the shield flickering to life before your hands.

Frisk turns at your cry of pain, skidding to a stop and running back to you as you pivot to face Undyne again. You want to tell Frisk to keep running, to leave you behind and try to get somewhere safe, but deep down you know that it would only delay the inevitable. A selfish part of you doesn't want to be alone when (if, you try to tell yourself) Undyne finally kills you.

"Undyne, please! We're not here to fight!" you plead, flinching as you duck behind your hands, flung spears glancing off the shield before they vanish.

"I don't care what YOU'RE here for! I'M here for your Souls!" she snarls, pointed teeth flashing. "Then all of this can finally be over! You should be happy, humans. With your lives, you can right the wrongs your people have done to us!"

"And that's worth the life of a child?!" you scream at her, hands balling into fists. You're trembling with anger and fear, the feel of Frisk holding onto your clothes a tangible reminder of what's at stake.

Undyne uses your moment of distraction and a spear flies at you from the side. You aren't fast enough to catch it with the shield. Frisk screams as you feel it cut deep into your soul, pain wracking your body as your legs tremble from the force of it. The attacks don't leave any physical trace on your body, something to do with the magic, but the pain is real enough.

You're starting to feel weaker.

Panting, you glare at Undyne through the distorting surface of the shield. She takes a few steps closer and scoffs at you. If she had a nose she'd be staring down it, as if you're beneath her. "We already have six souls. With one more we can break through the barrier. Would you have those six other deaths mean nothing? I'm here to finish what my predecessors started."

You brace yourself as she rears back and throws another spear at you as if to punctuate her words. You're shaking more violently now, from pain and fear and anger. Frisk's hands curl tighter in your clothes. The small whimper they make, it fills you with determination.

Your Soul gives off a red pulse of light, even though it's still washed with green magic. The shade is brighter than the wine color of your Soul, and for a moment you feel a swell of love rise up inside of you. "I won't let you hurt my child!" you scream.

Frisk's sharp intake of breath makes you realize what you just said, but you don't have the time to worry about it. If you can make it out of this alive, you'll be more than happy to explain everything...

Undyne falters for a second, looking down at the only part of Frisk that's visible: a pair of ratty sneakers and scrawny legs. Tossing back her hair, she clenches her hand tighter around the haft of a spear. "Right now, every monster in the Underground is counting on me!" she snaps.

With a slash at the air, the magic locking your body in place drains away, the shield vanishing and leaving you vulnerable. You take a step backwards, one hand reaching behind you to wrap around Frisk's wrist. Undyne raises her hands and two spears are hovering over each of her shoulders, points trained on you. Any sort of pleasure she's felt while fighting you has drained from her face. You can't even bring yourself to try and run.

"I'm ending this," she says.

"Ohmygosh, I can't believe it's Undyne!"

A familiar, high-pitched voice pierces through the air, and right as the spears begin their descent a short, yellow body darts out in front of you. You recognize the armless monster kid that is part of Frisk's group of friends. Before you have a chance to think about what you're doing, you leap forward and wrap yourself around them, protecting them with your body from Undyne's attack. If you're going to die anyway, you don't want this kid's ashes on your conscience.

You brace yourself for the inevitable pain that will slice right through your Soul. A strange feeling of clarity fills you for a moment, and you wonder if the cracks in your Soul will widen and finally split you in half when you die.

The hum of magic fills the air, and you can hear the shriek of Undyne's spears bouncing off something hard. What? The kid runs away when you release them, but you can't make out their words because you're too busy staring up at the wall of bones between you and Undyne. Papyrus? Sans? It has to be them!

Through the gaps between the bones you see Undyne whirl around, another spear appearing in her hand. Papyrus is standing behind her, a pair of femurs held like swords in his hands. Even from a distance, you can see the ring of orange burning in his right eye socket, magic licking the side of his skull like flames.

"fuck, are you okay?"

Relief floods through your body at the familiar, low voice at your side. Sans is there, thank God, and he's pulling you to him. You tuck yourself under one of his arms and then you're both reaching out for Frisk. He holds both of you close, and for a moment you think he might be shaking.

"shit," he murmurs, and with a sickening lurch in the pit of your stomach you realize that the three of you are now behind Papyrus.

"We both know that you can't defeat me, Papyrus!" Undyne yells, and you can hear the scrape of metal against bone.

"I,THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DON'T NEED TO DEFEAT YOU, UNDYNE! I JUST HAVE TO STOP YOU FROM HURTING MY FRIENDS!"

"Damn it, Papyrus! I KNEW you weren't cut out for this!"

Sans pulls away, enough to look at you, pulling you to your feet. He's looking over you, making sure you're okay. His eyes —still just the familiar white pinpricks— stop when they reach your Soul. His mouth opens and closes, and despite the pitched battle going on around you he's hesitating. With one hand, he reaches towards your Soul and then stops, looking you in the eye.

"did she do this to you?" A flicker of blue glows in his left socket, and his raised hand clenches into a fist. There's something menacing in his voice, and it sends a chill down your spine.

"No, it... it was already cracked when I first saw it," you say, and somehow it feels like you're trying to protect Undyne from him.

He glances down at your Soul again, a look of pain on his face. Then he turns his back to you, positioning himself between the two of you and Papyrus and Undyne. "stay behind me, we'll take care of this."

Frisk reaches out and takes your hand, and you pull them a few steps back. You're trembling, and weak, and your whole body aches, but you can't help but wonder why Sans looked at your Soul the way he did. Looking down, you raise your free hand to touch the wine-red heart hovering there, but it pulls back inside your chest before you have the chance.

"I can't believe the two of you. Protecting humans? Did you really fall for that goody-two-shoes shtick?" Undyne demands.

Papyrus jerks his hands into the air, bones appearing in front of him just in time to deflect a flurry of spears. Sans stands at his brother's side, hands shoved in his pockets. As far as you can tell, he's not actually doing anything. But you get the feeling that if things started to shift into Undyne's favor he'd intervene. You know he wouldn't let anything happen to any of you if he could help it.

You realize that, apart from him helping Frisk 'fight' Papyrus, and his apparent ability to teleport, you're really not sure what Sans is capable of.

"Am I supposed to be scared of the two of you? Shouldn't you be napping, Sans?" Undyne snaps, glaring at the two skeletons.

"i might as well be. papyrus doesn't need my help."

"UNDYNE, PLEASE STOP! I THINK IF YOU GAVE THEM A CHANCE, YOU COULD ALL BE FRIENDS!"

"You can't be friends with everyone! That's not how the world works!" Undyne's lip curls, and she slams the ground with the butt of her spear in emphasis.

Papyrus hasn't attacked Undyne at all. He's just holding her at bay, conjuring bones as barriers and knocking spears out of the air with the femurs in his hands. You wonder if she'll tire herself out eventually.

Frisk still hasn't spoken. Right now there's not much to say as you both serve as spectators to the confrontation between Papyrus and Undyne. Frisk squeezes your hand, and you squeeze back.

"Damn it, look at how strong you are!" Undyne yells, lunging forward and slashing at him with a spear in her hands. "Why couldn't you use this power to capture humans like I asked you to? I thought we were FRIENDS!"

Papyrus catches her attack with his crossed bones, shoving her backwards. "WE ARE FRIENDS! YOU TRAINED ME, AND YOU'RE TEACHING ME HOW TO COOK! BUT THE HUMANS ARE MY FRIENDS TOO. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WANTED ME TO CAPTURE HUMANS IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT NOW I'M WORRIED. IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO KILL THEM! AND YOU COULD HAVE HURT THAT CHILD IF IT WASN'T FOR THE HUMAN!"

That makes Undyne hesitate, drawing back a step and lowering her spear. Her chest is heaving as she pants, and she looks past Papyrus to glare at you. "FINE, forget it. You're too innocent for this shitty world, Papyrus, keep your stupid humans. But one of these days that attitude of yours is going to get you hurt." She jabs a finger at the group of you, eye narrowing. "Don't even bother getting to know the next human that makes the mistake of falling down here, they're MINE."

Undyne thrusts her spear into the ground and turns on her heel, storming off. After a moment, the spear flickers and disappears.

Once Undyne is out of sight, Papyrus's bones fade and he lets out a loud, dramatic sigh. "WOWIE," he says, turning around to face you and Frisk. His skull is dotted with nervous sweat. "THAT SURE WAS SCARY. FOR A MINUTE THERE I WAS AFRAID SHE WOULDN'T LISTEN. BUT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, DID NOT FAIL!"

"you did awesome, bro." Sans says, nudging his brother in the ribs with his elbow. "make no bones about it."

"UGH! SANS." Papyrus shakes his head. "HUMANS, ARE YOU BOTH ALL RIGHT?"

You let out a breath you don't realize you're holding, and as you go to take a step towards the brothers your legs buckle underneath you. Sans is at your side before you hit the ground, catching you with both arms as your vision swims.